


be mine

by Hydra_Trash_Gal



Series: Mission: Becoming Winter [5]
Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Assets & Handlers, Dehumanization, Miscommunication, Other, Recovery, its real angsty, like this hurt me guys, winteriron
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-10-05 02:28:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17316344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hydra_Trash_Gal/pseuds/Hydra_Trash_Gal
Summary: the mission reaches its conclusion with Tony Stark’s guiding handorthe one where winter finds answers to a question he didn’t think to ask.





	be mine

"This is Miss Potts." Tony Stark's tone wasn't angry or disappointed. He sounded amused, the Soldier thought thinking back to his research. "That, is Barton. Because apparently, these introductions were never made clear to you."

He knew his error and had grown to understand it around the time he gained a sense of autonomy to try out around Tony Stark. He not it because he was a person-in-training. 

Miss Potts gave Tony Stark a look that was sharp and displeased. The communal floor wasn't usually quite so busy but it seemed more than just the Soldier had been awaiting his arrival. "Tony," she said, voice less friendly than his had been. "Stop it."

"Stop what?" Tony Stark laid a hand over his chest. "I get it, Pepp. You and Barton have a lot in common. Girlish figure, looks great in purple."

Miss Potts shook her head and smiled at the Soldier — Winter, if he was to be human — the way Steve Rogers did. It made his hands want to curl into fists. He tried to think of the word that fit the feeling it put in chest. A hot pressure pushing up against his lungs. "Thanks Tony. I've been working my abs a lot more — glad you've noticed." Barton smirked at Tony who rolled his eyes. 

Winter needed a girlish figure and to look good in purple so he too could please Tony Stark. He also needed to learn what a girlish figure was. "I understand now." Winter had known before that Miss Potts was different from Barton. Sometimes he forgot that the prompt-replies had to be personalized. He was learning. He hadn't made the same mistake again. 

Tony Stark clapped his hands together. "Right well, there we go. Rogers can leave me the hell alone now."

"Is he bothering you?" Winter was not supposed to harm his Handler and he didn't want to hurt Steve Rogers. 

But for Tony Stark he could probably stab him — not deep, not fatally, just enough to make him understand. 

"When isn't he?" Tony Stark snorted and then seemed to read Winter's solemn look. "No. He's a...friend."

"Friend." Humans had friends. Winter needed friends. Not Steve Rogers because he was a Handler and humans didn't have Handlers. "I can be a friend to you Tony Stark."

Tony Stark was fastening a cufflink to his jacket and paused to look up at him. "Are you saying we're not already friends?" He sounded wounded. Playfully wounded but humans used humor to hide hurt. Winter did not want to hurt Tony Stark.

"We are friends. Have been friends since...always?" Winter did not trust time and Tony Stark laughed. Winter did not know why. 

Miss Potts hit him again and her mobile phone began to ring. "I need to go," she stood and looked at the Soldier. "It was good to meet you, James."

She held her hand out and it was not threatening. A handshake, a normal human interaction, but touching was always off limits. Winter could be touched but to touch team mates was bad. He knew it to his very core. He did not want Tony Stark to think he was disobedient and refuse him as his person. 

But she was not part of the team, so maybe it was allowed. He put out the flesh hand and she took it. Her grip was not aggressive and she did not squeeze tightly, just gentle pressure as moved up and down. He let her lead the movement, fascinated. He would have to try this with others. Maybe Sam Wilson. Maybe Natalia. Not Steve Rogers however, he couldn't touch his Handler even though he touched Winter all the time. Patted him on the shoulder and called him 'Buck'. 

"You're hot." Winter realized out loud. He had been so focused on the movement on who he could practice with he hadn't noticed the body temperature.

Tony Stark and Barton found it amusing — Winter didn't understand why. "Ignore them," Miss Potts took her hand back. "I'm not exactly human."

"You're not a person?" She was not a machine, he could hear her heartbeat. "Are you Tony Stark's Weapon?"

Miss Potts seemed to mull it over and offered a smile that seemed secretive. "I'm more of what keeps Tony Stark in line." 

"Are you a person?" He moved closer, he couldn't help it. This was not in his research. She was not a human but she understood them. "Did Tony Stark create you?"

Tony Stark was shifting forward a bit as if worried Winter would harm Miss Potts. Barton was observing. "Yes, I'm a person and no, I was created by someone else."

"How did you learn to be a person?" Tony Stark has given it yet another thing to be thankful for. It could be a person now, it could be — it felt cold suddenly. "... Are you Tony Stark's person?"

Miss Potts smiled at him. "I suppose you could call me that." Winter felt like he was falling and the white noise was back. It faded a bit as the phone chimed again. "I have to get to the jet. Walk me out, Tony?"

"Why of course Miss Potts," he put his hand on her waist and smiled at Winter. "I'll be back down and we can take a look at your arm."

"It was nice to meet you James," Miss Potts said.

Winter did not reply. When Tony Stark returned he felt a strange weight in his chest. "Miss Potts is your person?" He asked for clarification. She was not human so maybe she didn't have final say. 

"Uh yeah, you could call it that. I mean, I don't own her but we're...together. She doesn't like titles y'know. Not with taking over Stark Industries and all." Tony Stark shrugged his shoulder, face a bit flushed. 

"Are you allowed to have another person?" Winter felt like he was approaching the Chair. Like he already knew the answer but how would he? 

"You kidding me? Pepper would kill me. And I don't want anyone else. Just her." 

The Chair hurt far less than those words. 

But Winter understood pain. Winter nodded his head — no, the Soldier nodded it's head. If it wasn't to be Tony Stark's person this mission had no point. Pointless missions were not to be completed. It was not an efficient use of the Asset's time.

It needed to report to it's Handler, let Steve Rogers know that as he had hoped, the mission was ceased.

Mission Status: Failure.

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know your thoughts!


End file.
